1884 – Shoreditch Town Hall, London

Writers: Rhianna Ilube, Tsitsi Mareika Chirikure, malakaï sargeant and Chloe Mashiter

Director: Tatenda Shamiso

By the time you leave Coney’s 1884, you will have formed a strong bond with a group of strangers, agreed to set up a house together, created a shared space and been provoked into thinking more about what home means when its qualities are challenged by outsiders. Part game, part immersive theatre experience, this 2-hour and 45-minute piece written by Rhianna Ilube, Tsitsi Mareika Chirikure, malakaï sargeant and Chloe Mashiter is a savvy experiment in human behaviour and the impact of colonial control mechanisms.

Immersive theatre can be a deeply off-putting experience but Coney has taken a gentle approach to encouraging even the least willing audience members to participate in any way they feel comfortable. Attendees self-select into groups of six or seven, choosing seats around a number of workstations containing a house floor plan. The first part of the evening, which lasts for around two hours, takes place largely in these small groups, discussing, planning and sharing as much or as little as you want to about what a home means, choosing a team name and actually designing how your household interacts with the wider community.

It is a clever start to a scenario that becomes increasingly uncertain and while each ‘family’ is creating itself, a mysterious meeting is happening in the background reported only through notes delivered to each table and from the DJ/compere who explains the various challenges and tasks being set throughout the evening as other characters drop in performed by Jyuddah Jaymes, Ewa Dina and Chusi Amoros.

And the concept works really effectively; bonds are formed quickly within household, and everyone complies with what they are being asked to do when the tasks seem innocuous. But innate and largely unprompted suspicions soon begin to grow as the tone subtly changes, with competitive spirit, even paranoia emerging between tables that alter the nature of the game and the determination of the players – for example, it is fascinating at the Press performance to see a widespread act of solidarity from the whole room when a technical piece of knowledge is shared to form a true neighbourhood community rather just individual houses.

The creators’ understanding of individual responses is astute and while the show content is largely driven by the imagination and creativity of the audience, making it possibly quite different at each performance depending on how gregarious, shy and compliant attendees happen to be, the structure provides a strong framework for the collective messages and broader understanding that eventually emerge in the much shorter second part.

While conversations and speculations carry on in households during the break, returning from the interval is quite a different experience. Here, the underpinning link to the 1884 Berlin Conference is given greater clarity while there are important points made about how history is written, misunderstood and misdirected to erase community experiences, concluding with a satisfying process of reclamation and reunification that leaves the now veteran households chattering together for some time after the performance ends.

Your experience at 1884 probably depends quite heavily on just who else happens to attend, how much they are prepared to engage and if groups stick together, so it may be difficult to really appreciate the connections across the different parts of the show if you choose to largely observe. Yet this is theatremaking with a strong and effective political purpose, and as you head off to your real home you’ll suddenly realise how fragile that feeling of comfort might be.

Runs until 27 April 2024